Eagles quarterback Nick Foles led the underdog to Super Bowl glory. (Image Credit: John Biever/NFL)
“Hate it or love it, the underdog’s on top.” – 50 Cent
If the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do, then the Philadelphia Eagles must be on cloud nine.
Because of a willingness to embrace the role of underdog, the Eagles left Minneapolis, Minnesota as Super Bowl champions. They did it with a stunning 41-33 victory over the favored New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium.
History has shown us how much we love watching the underdog dream the impossible dream. Fans of the Rocky movies can attest to watching Rocky Balboa run the streets of Philadelphia training for a fight no one thought he’d win.
The Patriots, the team most outside of New England love to hate, were heavily-favored to win their sixth Super Bowl title. The Eagles found themselves pitted against the NFL’s juggernaut, and defending champions.
How did the Eagles do it? What did it take in order for them to overcome the odds? Here were three factors I believed played key roles:
Heart and Fire
For over a decade now, the Patriots have stayed at or near the top of the NFL with the arrogance, skill, and star power of Apollo Creed. Their resume is intimidating enough to make you think Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago were coming through the tunnel before kickoff.
We already know how it turned out for the “Italian Stallion”. A mixture of “heart and fire” fueled Rocky in each of his battles inside the ring, he was the underdog in all of them.
Heart and fire is a key component for any underdog to achieve success. You have to really want to win, that’s where it starts and ends. That passion inside of us, once realized, must be ignited.
I believe successful motivational speaker Eric Thomas captured it best with this quote:
“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.”
Throughout the 2017-18 season, the Eagles showed plenty of heart and fire during a campaign which had plenty of setbacks along the way. But it still came down to embracing their role.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson (Image Credit: Kirt Dozier-USA TODAY Sports)
Owning Your Truth
Of the three, this one I feel provides the most impact. The Eagles, by embracing their role as the underdog, owned their truth.
Mindset and transformational coach Rebecca Mckown, in the Huffington Post, wrote “The truth of the soul is powerful. The weight of the ego is sometimes more powerful.”
The numbers rarely ever lie. The Patriots came into Super Bowl LII with future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, a future Hall of Fame head coach in Bill Belichick, and five Super Bowl rings in seven tries together.
Those are tough odds to go up against for any team. The Eagles had backup quarterback Nick Foles, who took over late in the season for the injured Carson Wentz. Their head coach, Doug Pederson, didn’t begin his coaching career until 2005 at a private high school in Shreveport, Louisiana. In February of that year, Belichick and Brady were winning their third Super Bowl in four years.
In the game, Brady threw for 505 passing yards, a Super Bowl record. He added three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
But from the opening kickoff, the Eagles were the aggressors and made sure they stayed that way until the clock hit 00:00. Pederson rolled the dice twice on fourth down and came up a winner. It’s really the only way to beat a juggernaut like the Patriots, you have to stay aggressive.
Foles threw for 373 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. It was enough to not only win the game, it earned him the Most Valuable Player Award.
It would be easy for anyone to look at the tale of the tape and put the smart money on New England. But, despite a 13-3 regular season record (identical to New England), Philadelphia went throughout the playoffs as the underdog. This included their NFC wild-card win over the Atlanta Falcons, at home.
This wasn’t new territory for the Eagles and, like they’ve done all season, they embraced the role of underdogs because the numbers clearly said that’s what they were. By doing so, the Eagles lived in their truth and owned it all the way to a Super Bowl title.
Tom Brady came up short in his bid for a sixth Super Bowl ring. (AP/Chris O’Meara)
The Resilient Eagles
Every NFL team wants to succeed, however, in the end it always comes down to which team’s the most resilient.
If there’s a new poster-team for the next-man up position, it must be this year’s Eagles team. They lost Wentz, a regular-season MVP candidate, in week 14. Before that, it was nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, linebacker Jordan Hicks, running back and speedster Darren Sproles, and Chris Maragos. All key players on offense, defense, and special teams.
“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo-far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” – Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister’s Keeper
The Eagles didn’t take a knee once the injury list began to fill up with names, they plugged the next player in and persevered on with their season.
With every step forward afterwards, confidence grows. By the time the Eagles lined up against the almighty Patriots in the Super Bowl, they were ready for what was ahead because they’ve been battling all season through adversity.
Resiliency is an important characteristic for the underdog to possess. This life will throw punches at us which will occasionally put even the strongest down on the mat. Those who can get up and keep fighting leave a lasting legacy.
It’s been a long time coming for the city of Philadelphia and its football fans.
By showing heart, owning their truth, and displaying remarkable resiliency, the Eagles showed what it takes as an underdog to win on the field. They also gave justification to life’s sweet pleasure of doing what everyone said they couldn’t do.
Now that’s a truly a feeling to embrace.
